With his signature wit and insight, award-winning poet Stephen Dobyns probes the secrets of the heart

Consider the mysteries of the heart, that blood-pumping organ and, in Stephen Dobyns' latest collection of poems, the hapless romantic of our interior landscape. "The Himalayas Within Him" finds Heart worrying about the sound of his own heartbeat, wondering why it doesn't "blare like a quartet of trombones" as it reflects his "ardent complexity." In "Goodbye to the Hands That Have Touched Him" Heart, after suffering many sleepless nights, decides "that love exists at the root of his problems. Without love his path would be as smooth as a plate of glass and he'd sleep like a kitten." Dividing the Heart poems is the long "Oh, Immobility, Death's Vast Associate," a jazzy disquisition on human isolation and inaction in the midst of a planet full of people feeling similarly. Throughout Pallbearers Envying the One Who Rides Dobyns has painstakingly sculpted straightforward language into a distinct sound, creating an unforgettable collection of poems that offers readers unexpected revelations about the complexities of the heart.

. . . Why is Heart alone in the chest? Because hope is an aspect of the single conditionand without hope, why move our feet? To see himselfas purely a fragment: such is Heart's obligation. Let's quickly depart before we learn what happens. Sometimes a car stops. Sometimes there is nothing.--from "Like a Revolving Door"

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About the Author:

Stephen Dobyns is the author of nine previous books of poetry and nineteen novels, including ten Penguin mystery novels set in Saratoga Springs, New York. He has also published a book of literary essays, Best Words, Best Order. Dobyns lives with his family near Boston.

Review:

Adrift In The Leafy Tranquility Between Them Rose The Boner Of Contention Black Stitches Down The Middle Can Poetry Matter? Corn To Pound To Make His Bread The Dark And Turbulent Sea Daytona Fresh And Indianapolis Immaculate Death Lobs A Bosom Into The Field Dog-tired Cannon Fodder Won't Salute The Ersatz Metaphysic Of Commercialism Facing Failure Fighting Back Flawed Language: Thought's Shadow God's Poorer Particle, I.e. The Devil Good Deeds Goodbye To The Hands That Have Touched Him Great Job The Himalayas Within Him His Favorite Blue Cup Hunting Dogs Pursue The Wounded Deer I'm Muscle, I'm Brawn It's Not The Hookers Or Opium Dens Last Jumping Jacks Let's Peek At The Dental Work The Light Is Dusky The Shadows Long Like A Revolving Door Logo Of Fixed Bewilderment Love Is Elsewhere Lumberjack Shirts And Motorcycle Boots Macfleckna's Storefront Church The Malditos Make A Racket The Minute Grit In Death's Undergarments The Morgue Attendants Clutch Their Keys The Nature Of Love The New Austerity No Tangos Tonight Occupant In Permanent Transit Oh, Immobility, Death's Vast Associate Old What's-his-name One Good Turns Deserves Another Ready And Waiting Scattered Oaks In Full Leaf The Sorry Fronds Of The Palm Trees That Stuff About A Better Place Their Tete-a-tete Is Done Thus He Endured To Blow Your Enemy A Final Kiss To Conceal The Piercing Light To Exist In The Given Minute To Sleep The Sleep Of The Just Trouble In Mind Until We Drool And Piss Ourselves Valentine Mathematics What Good Is Love Unless It's Aggressive? What Next? When Tubes Pierce Every Extremity Why Fool Around? Why Is He Suddenly Paralyzed? The World's Master Plan The World's Sidewalks And Daily Hoopla Wounds Without Pain -- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®